Comprehensive Study Guide to Foundations of Criminalistics
Fundamental Definition and Characteristics of Criminalistics
Criminalistics is a discipline that systematically investigates scientific methods and rules of experience in the direct prevention, discovery, and clarification of criminal acts and the identification of their perpetrators. It focuses on gnoseological-informational content, possibilities, and the means of gaining knowledge about facts that are the subject of investigation (Geerds, 1969). The discipline encompasses knowledge of the structure of criminal acts, the development of methodologies and tactics for their discovery and clarification, and the systematic collection and processing of rules of experience to find suitable scientific methods (Gross and Geerds, 1978). Ultimately, it can be understood as a systematic body of knowledge concerning methods and means of discovering, collecting information, preventing criminal phenomena, and the procedure of clarifying the occurrence of a crime (Kube et al., 1994).
Comparison with Related Legal and Non-Legal Sciences
Criminalistics differs from criminal law in its primary focus: while criminal law approaches the criminal act from the standpoint of legal science, criminalistics examines factual structures. Criminalistics focuses on the occurrence of the criminal act as the subject of research, whereas criminal law deals with the legal regulations of that act (Geerds, 1987). Furthermore, criminalistics considers the investigative procedure as a factual structure, while criminal procedural law focuses on the legal regulations governing the criminal procedure.
In relation to criminology, both disciplines study crime and the delinquent but from different angles (Pavišić, et al., 2006). Criminalistics focuses on the discovery of acts and perpetrators, while criminology takes a broader sociological perspective, researching the causes, conditions, and manifestations of criminal behavior. Similar distinctions exist with social pathology and criminal pedagogy, where criminalistics remains specialized in the measures of direct investigation of criminal phenomena.
Sources of Criminalistic Information and Case Attrition
Information related to a criminal act, often termed a criminalistic message, data, or information, is the starting category for defining the subject of criminalistics. This fundamental determinant differs from terms found in substantive criminal law, procedural law, criminology, or criminal policy (Vodinelić, 1994). The primary sources of information include persons, physical objects, documents (deeds), and media messages. The system of criminalistics must adapt to this structure. In American literature, the concept of "case attrition" is highlighted as a condition for criminalistic intervention (Osterburg and Ward, 2000).
Systematic Divisions of Criminalistics: Tactics, Techniques, and Methodics
Traditionally, criminalistics has been viewed through a dichotomous structure. However, modern development and specialization have led to a trichotomous division into Tactics, Techniques, and Methodics, which serves as the clearest basis for studying the discipline.
Criminalistic Technique deals with the discovery, study, adaptation, and improvement of the most suitable scientific and technical methods and means for combating crime. These methods are drawn from the natural and technical sciences with the purpose of discovering, securing, fixing, and interpreting traces and objects related to a criminal act for investigative and evidentiary purposes (Moodly and Mršić, 2014).
Criminalistic Tactics represents a branch or subsystem focused on the manifestations and modes of committing criminal acts (criminal or delinquent tactics and techniques), as well as the motives, goals, knowledge, skills, customs, habits, and psychology of the perpetrators (criminalistic phenomenology). Tactics can be divided into general tactics, which deal with investigative actions, and special tactics, which consider the specifics of investigative actions relative to a specific crime or group of crimes.
Criminalistic Methodics, also known as special tactics, is a dynamic area that emerged through specialization. It studies the specificities of discovering, investigating, and preventing certain types, groups, or types of criminal acts. The number of specific methodologies depends on the number of categorized crime groups.
Criminalistic Phenomenology
Phenomenology is a subsystem of criminalistic tactics that systematically collects and studies four key elements:
The manifestations of criminal acts, known as criminal morphology.
The characteristics of how specific acts are carried out, referred to as the technique of crime or delinquent tactics and techniques.
The lifestyle, behavior, and life forms of delinquents, known as kriminografija (criminography).
The manifestations of criminal acts in relation to the mode of commission. The basic task of this subsystem is investigating all components and concrete manifestations of these acts.
The Golden Questions of Criminalistics
The fundamental structure of any investigation is built around six to nine methodology-based questions. The philosopher Joachim Georg Daries is credited with the first questions, while Vodinelić added two more (th and th) to complete the classification:
Who? (Quis)
What? (Quid)
Where? (Ubi)
With what? (Quibus auxiliis)
Why? (Cur)
How? (Quomodo)
When? (Quando)
With what intention? (Cum quo animo)
With whom? (Cum quo)
Epistemology of Doubt and Indices
Doubt is the starting point of criminalistic research and can be viewed as a hypothesis about a criminal act. It is the minimum criminalistic standard required for any investigation (Kleinknecht, 1995). In criminalistics, doubt corresponds to the concept of probability based on circumstances, as mere guessing is insufficient (Vodinelić, 1985).
Doubt is categorized into various degrees or levels of probability, including: basic grounds of suspicion (osnovi sumnje), grounded suspicion (osnovana sumnja), justified suspicion (opravdana sumnja), distant, close, light, heavy, urgent, unlikely, probable, very probable, probability bordering on certainty, initial grounded suspicion, and necessary suspicion.
Indications (indices) serve as the basis for setting versions in heuristic criminalistics. In a procedural sense, an index is a fact established to help prove another fact through logic; thus, it is indirect, logical evidence. In a criminalistic sense, indices encompass all evidentiary facts, as well as operational notes, polygram results, and character assessments. Indices are classified by scope (general or specific/typical), by connection (to the act, perpetrator, or victim), by timeframe (before, during, or after the act), and by evidentiary strength (obvious, close, distant).
Heuristic versus Syllogistic Criminalistics
Criminalistic thinking and action are divided into two fundamental areas: heuristics and syllogistics (Walder, 1961).
Heuristic criminalistics views the criminal act as a real phenomenon and activity from the very first suspicion. It involves the planned and systematic collection of data, the creation of premises, and the acceptance or rejection of data. Its central category is the "data" which serves as an indication (indicij) characterized by freedom of action and inventiveness. Its primary components involve discovery and prevention.
Syllogistic criminalistics approaches the act not just as a real phenomenon but as a subject of criminal procedure and law. It starts with the probability that a specific person committed a specific act and considers the performance of procedural actions and evidence presentation. Its central category is "evidence." It focuses on the mechanism of creating and shaping evidentiary information, the execution of procedural actions, and purposeful case management.
Logical Methods: Induction and Deduction
Inductive methods involve the systematic application of inductive conclusions to discover the truth. The auxiliary inductive methods used in criminalistics include:
Observation: A planned, programmed, and objective perception of a subject.
Experiment: The active interference in events to provoke rare phenomena or change conditions to study laws.
Counting: Determining the number of components in a set or class.
Measurement: Using units of measure and tools to determine numerical values of physical properties (extensive qualities), as opposed to intensive qualities which are immeasurable.
John Stuart Mill's inductive causal methods include:
Method of Agreement: If cases have only one common circumstance, that circumstance is the cause or effect.
Method of Difference: If a case where a phenomenon happens and one where it does not share all circumstances except one, that one is the cause or part of the cause.
Combined Method of Agreement and Difference.
Method of Residues: Subtracting known effects of antecedents to find the cause of the remaining phenomenon.
Method of Concomitant Variations: If a phenomenon changes when another changes, they are causally connected.
Deductive methods are used systematically to prove truth, particularly in setting "deductive versions" during the investigative process.
Theory of Versions (Hypotheses)
In criminalistics, hypotheses are called versions. A version is one of several hypotheses explaining the origin, properties, and circumstances of a crime, as well as the relationships between perpetrator and victim. Versions are set based on collected knowledge and intuition. The principle of the "plurality of versions" is essential.
Versions are classified as follows:
By logic/methodology: Preliminary, working, auxiliary, main, secondary, basic, and supplementary.
By reach: Main and auxiliary.
By time: Retrospective (past) or prognostic (future), and successive or simultaneous.
By relationship: Matching, exclusive, or neutral.
Procedural: Investigative or trial versions.
Typical versions: Models concerning the being of the crime, the action/consequence, subjective side (motives/guilt), victim behavior, and traces at the scene.
Verification of versions involves deriving consequences from the hypothesis and checking them against reality using all available evidence and elimination/refutation.
Theoretical Concepts of Identification
Identification aims to establish identity through three principles:
A specific set of identifying characteristics cannot be found in another object.
Identifying characteristics must achieve a certain degree of match (concordance) in samples.
The process is carried out according to specific methodology based on the nature of the identification.
Identification objects are divided into persons and things. Personal identification includes visual recognition, Bertillonage (anthropometric description), personal description, papillary lines (fingerprints), lip traces, nail traces, odontology (teeth), foot morphology, handwriting, voice, smell, and biological traces. Real identification (of things) involves recognizing instruments of crime (instrumenta sceleris), products of crime (producta sceleris), and objects obtained through crime or objects carrying traces.
Traseology and the Science of Traces
A trace is any material change created in connection with a criminal act; it is a signal and carrier of information. Traseology is the study of these material traces. An identification trace is a reflection of the external structure of an object on another object, suitable for identification.
Traces are classified by size and visibility:
Macro-traces: Visible traces.
Micro-traces: Difficult to perceive directly, discovered using aids, and classified by relationships (e.g., perpetrator-place, victim-perpetrator).
Sub-micro traces: Cannot be seen even with a microscope; identified through dissolution (Zbiden, 1954).
Traces are also classified by shape into impressions (otisak), which remain on the surface, and indentations (utisnuće), which penetrate the structure. Fingered traces are false, simulated, or missing/destroyed traces used to mislead investigators (Geerds, 1987).
Work with traces involves four phases:
Finding (Heuristic action).
Securing (Physical and procedural protection).
Fixing.
Interpreting (Clarification).
Specialist Technical Disciplines
Dactyloscopy is a reliable method for identifying persons based on papillary lines on fingers, palms, and soles. It is divided into registration/general (ten-print) and investigative/operational (single-print).
Biology provides identification through DNA and blood groups (Alldridge, 1992). Chemistry utilizes chromatographic methods (paper, thin-layer, gas) and toxicological analysis, as well as document examination. Physics contributes through microscopic and optical methods, including ultraviolet, infrared, laser devices, and spectrophotography (Aleksić, 1988).
Theory and Elements of Evidence
Evidence is any factual content capable of forming a conviction in an authorized subject regarding the existence or non-existence of a fact (Halilović, 2019). The logic of evidence involves four elements:
Thesis probandi: The claim whose truth is being established.
Argumenta probandi: The reasons or arguments.
Modus and instrumenta probandi: The way and means of establishing the fact.
Nervus probandi: The strength or persuasiveness of the evidence.
Evidence is divided into direct and indirect (circumstantial), empirical and non-empirical, deductive and inductive, and progressive or regressive. Errors in evidence include: insufficient evidence (probatio minus probans), over-abundant evidence (probatio plus probans), transition to another genus (metabasis), absence of principle (petitio principi), circular reasoning, falsehoods at the foundation (pseudoproton), and arguments against the person (argumentum ad hominem).
Psychology of Testimony and Statements
Psychology of testimony, a branch of judicial psychology, explains and predicts the behavior of participants in the proceedings (Ajduković, 1995). A statement (iskaz) in the broad sense includes all declarations made in the procedure. In the narrow sense, it includes statements from the accused (confession, denial), witnesses, experts, and confrontations.
The creation of a statement involves four stages:
Perception (observation, understanding).
Memory (immediate and mediate).
Thinking.
Reproduction (communication).
Errors in testimony may arise from memory simplification, rationalization, or filling gaps with imagination. Statements must be credible to be used; flaws include genuine errors or lies. The process of creating a statement is influenced by the technique and tactics of questioning, including preparation, question structure, and recording.
Foundational Principles of Criminalistic Activity
Several legal and ethical principles govern investigative work:
Legality: Every action must follow the law and be performed by authorized subjects. Illegal evidence renders a verdict null.
Objectivity: Requires conscience, responsibility, and the removal of bias or external interference.
Discretion and Secrecy: Includes operational, legal, and moral duties to protect information to ensure investigative success (Kresoja, 2006).
Methodicalness: Necessitates internal planning and organization before taking action.
Operationality and Speed: High speed and coordination are prerequisites for an effective system of repression.
Proportionality: Choosing the least invasive action to achieve a goal relative to the severity of the act.
Humanity: Ensuring respect for human rights and protecting the innocent from unfounded suspicion.
Planning and Management
Planning is the intellectual process of deciding what, when, how, and by whom an action will be performed (Verardo, 1997). Strategic planning involves programming goals and state assessment, while tactical planning (work planning) focuses on the execution of operations for efficiency and speed (Kube and Storzer, 1994).
The phases of work planning are:
Goal determination.
Data collection.
Analysis of operations.
Schedule of activities.
Establishing sequence.
Historical Phases of the Evidence System
The development of criminalistic practice follows the evolution of evidence evaluation:
Ethnic phase: Evaluation based on personal and experiential knowledge.
Religious/Mystic phase: Use of trials by ordeal or divine judgment.
Formal/Legal phase: Evaluation strictly dominated by statutory rules.
Free conviction phase (intime conviction): The judge's free assessment of evidence.
Questions & Discussion
1. What is the definition of criminalistics? Criminalistics is the discipline that systematically investigates scientific methods and rules of experience for the direct prevention, discovery, and clarification of criminal acts and their perpetrators, focusing on factual structures and gnoseological-informational content.
2. What are the main sources of information? Sources include individuals, physical objects, documents, and media messages. The system must adapt to these structures, often accounting for case attrition as a condition for intervention.
3. How do you distinguish criminalistics from criminal law? Criminal law focuses on legal norms and definitions, whereas criminalistics focuses on real-world factual structures and the actual procedure of investigation.
4. What are the golden questions of Daries and Vodinelić? They are: Who? What? Where? With what? Why? How? When? With what intention? and With whom?
5. What is the difference between the dichotomy and trichotomy of criminalistics? The traditional dichotomy splits the field into two, while the modern trichotomy divides it into Tactics, Techniques, and Methodics for better systematic study.
6. What is the subject of criminalistic technique? It is the application of natural and technical sciences to find, secure, and interpret traces for evidentiary purposes.
7. What is the subject of criminalistic tactics? It focuses on the modes of committing crimes, motifs, and the psychology and lifestyle of perpetrators.
8. What does criminalistic methodics study? It studies the specificities of investigating specific types or groups of crimes.
9. What is criminalistic phenomenology? it is the study of crime manifestations (morphology), techniques of commission, and the lifestyle of delinquents.
10. What defines doubt in criminalistics? Doubt is a degree of probability based on circumstances, ranging from basic suspicion to probability bordering on certainty.
11. What are the primary goals of criminalistics? According to Lyman (2011), they include discovering the act, identifying and arresting suspects, preserving evidence, recovering property, and preparing cases for prosecution.
12. How are identification objects divided? They are divided into persons (personal identification) and things (real identification).
13. What are the methods of personal identification? Methods include fingerprints (dactyloscopy), visual recognition, Bertillonage, DNA, voice, smell, and dental records.
14. What are the methods of real identification? Recognition of instruments of crime, products of crime, and objects bearing traces.
15. What are the three principles of identification? Uniqueness of traits, degree of concordance, and use of specific methodology.
16. How does criminalistics relate to forensic medicine? They complement each other in sexual and blood-related offenses, sharing methods in identification and traseology.
17. What characterizes heuristic criminalistics? It is discovery-oriented, focusing on data and indications from the very beginning of suspicion.
18. What characterizes syllogistic criminalistics? It is proof-oriented, focusing on procedural actions and the conversion of data into evidence.
19. How are traces classified by shape? Into impressions (on the surface) and indentations (penetrating the surface).
20. What are fingered traces? They are false or simulated traces intended to mislead the investigation.